The panel shows a wreath of roses, occupying the entire pictorial space. It consists of five times ten white roses divided into the five decades of the rosary by five larger red roses. Christ on the cross is positioned at the centre of the gilded inner area of the wreath
The panel shows a wreath of roses, occupying the entire pictorial space. It consists of five times ten white roses divided into the five decades of the rosary by five larger red roses. Christ on the cross is positioned at the centre of the gilded inner area of the wreath and cloud bands indicate the hierarchy in heaven: God the Father and the Holy Ghost are represented at the top above the cross, beneath them at the left the intercessory Virgin, at the right an angel; at the left under the horizontal member of the cross are representatives of the Old Testament (David, Moses and St John the Baptist) and at the right the apostles and the evangelists, beneath them at the left male saints (Sts Christopher, Erasmus, Lawrence and the Holy Innocents) and at the right the Latin Fathers, Sts Henry II, Sebald, Francis etc., beneath these are female saints either side of the cross (at the left among others Sts Catherine, Barbara and Apollonia, at the right Kunigunde and others). A choir of nine angels encircles the saints within the wreath. In the lower section of the painting 'the earth' is represented by an expansive landscape; members of the clerical estate (Pope [Leo X ?], a cardinal, a bishop, priests and other clergy) kneel at the left under the wreath of roses, while representatives of the worldly estate (with Emperor [Maximilian?], a prince and the bourgeoisie) are shown at the right.
Christoph Bellot in: [Exner 2015, 957]
